Red Wings' power play stuck in major slump

CHICAGO -- The Detroit Red Wings are mired in their worst power-play slump of the season. And with several of the unit's key components not due back real soon, their prospects for significant improvement are not looking too bright.

"You're missing a lot of guys who are key components of your power play and right now we're not getting a whole lot of opportunities," defenseman Brad Stuart said. "When we do get opportunities, we're not quite urgent enough.''

The Red Wings went 0-for-2 on the power play in Sunday's 3-0 loss to Chicago and are 4-for-53 (7.5 percent) in the past 15 games.

"That's something we have to work at, especially with some of the new guys that are getting a chance to be on it,'' Nicklas Lidstrom said. "Know where to go on the breakout, take the shots when they're there and create some scoring chances by shooting the puck a lot more than we have been.''

The Red Wings are missing five key power-play components due to injuries: Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary, in addition to Niklas Kronwall and Jason Williams, the point men on the second unit at the start of the season.

"We still feel our first unit should have a real good opportunity to score,'' coach Mike Babcock said.

That's still a formidable unit, with Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Holmstrom up front and Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski at the points. But Detroit now has gone five games without a power-play goal.

"A lot of it has to do with guys putting in more minutes, so when you're out there penalty-killing you're a little more tired than you normally would be (for the power play),'' Rafalski said. "We just got to keep it simple, make sure we keep getting shots.''

Hossa containedFormer Red Wings forward Marian Hossa had no points and no shots on goal in 18:46 of ice time in his first game against his former club on Sunday. Hossa made his season debut for the Blackhawks on Nov. 25, following offseason shoulder surgery.

"It's different when you play against a guy that was with you last year," Lidstrom said. "You know how great of a player he is, you know his tendencies. Whenever he gets a chance, whether it's open ice or a quick shot, he's going to get that shot off.

"We know he's a great offensive player. I thought we did a good job of trying to get close to him and not giving the open ice or shots he can score on."